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Long-Term Care Partnership Program in Texas (2026)

Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: Yes. Texas participates in the federal Long-Term Care Partnership Program, using a dollar-for-dollar asset-protection model, under 1 Tex. Admin. Code Section 358.355, Qualified Long-Term Care Partnership Program Insurance Policies, adopted effective September 1, 2009.

How the asset protection works

Texas uses a dollar-for-dollar asset-protection model: an amount of Medicaid-countable assets equal to what a qualified Partnership policy actually paid out is protected (disregarded) both when applying for Medicaid and later in Medicaid estate recovery. 1 Tex. Admin. Code Section 358.355, Qualified Long-Term Care Partnership Program Insurance Policies, adopted effective September 1, 2009 is the governing citation. In the state’s own words: “This section describes the Long-Term Care Partnership Program under which a person’s resources are disregarded in the eligibility determination equal to the amount of benefits paid to or on behalf of a person by a Long-Term Care Partnership policy.”

What the state itself says about moving

Texas’s own program materials, as read this session, do not spell out a reciprocity policy in so many words. The federal default (Deficit Reduction Act of 2005) is opt-out, not opt-in: most Partnership states honor each other’s policies unless a state has formally withdrawn. Confirm the current position directly with the Medicaid agency in the state you are moving to or from, in writing, before counting on it.

Which policies qualify

Texas’s own materials tie the program to policies issued on or after 2009 (or the date its state plan amendment took effect that year). A long-term care policy bought before that cutoff is not automatically Partnership-qualified in Texas even if it otherwise looks similar; the policy’s own rider or outline of coverage should say “Partnership” or “Qualified State Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership” explicitly.

Estate recovery, not just eligibility

The federal rule requires the same protected amount to be disregarded twice: once when Texas decides Medicaid eligibility, and again later if Texas pursues Medicaid estate recovery against the person’s estate. A Partnership-qualified policy is doing two jobs, not one; see how estate recovery itself works in Texas.

The federal Partnership framework, in numbers
Federal Partnership framework itself20 years old (in place since February 8, 2006)
Federal inflation-protection buyer-age bracketscompound protection required under age 61; some protection required age 61 to age 76
Texas’s own cutoff (since 2009)17 years old
This state’s core mechanismprotects $1 of assets for every $1 the policy pays out

For the federal rules behind this state page, see how Partnership reciprocity works when you move states and why inflation protection is a condition of staying Partnership-qualified.

Every citation on this page was read directly from the state’s own Insurance Department, Medicaid agency, statute, or administrative code this session (or, where that site could not be reached, from an independently cross-checked legal-database mirror of the same codified text, disclosed below). General information, not insurance, legal, or tax advice on any specific policy or application; program rules and reciprocity agreements can change, and your state’s Insurance Department or Medicaid agency has the final say.

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